Jackson I: hype and substance
by Bekassin
Summary: If you recive an offer too good to be true - don t take it. The riders find out that truth is something man made. A little like justice.
1. Prologe

The morning was bright and cold, like a November morning should be.

At least the mornings Teaspoon wouldn´t need to be outside for longer than ten minutes at a time.

The odd middle-aged man sat comfortably in his chair, next to the oven, a nice hot cup of coffee in his hands. His hair surrounded his head like a cloud, bravely defining gravity. He wore his usual mixture of suspenders and shirt-sleeved mischievousness. He seemed stout, a lot more than he actually was. The way he held himself let him appear as a rather ponderous man, a mistake a lot of dishonorable gentleman had made in their time. Teaspoon had seen enough for him to know that a dry, warm and diverting place to life was hard to come by. So he enjoyed his role as a stationmaster for the pony express tremendously.

All the thugs, adventure and oatmeal a man could wish for, wrapped in one job.

It was early, and Emma was bustling about, preparing what smelled suspiciously like biscuits.

The first rays of sunlight creeped over the hills and made the frozen ground glitter. Teaspoon watched it through a closed, frost covered window and felt incredibly homely.

They would be a small group for breakfast this morning. With Hickok, Kid and Lou on a mail run, it left only three of the riders at the station.

Ike, Buck and Cody showed up all in different stages of consciousness.

Cody extended his night sleep in the warm pillow of Emma´s fresh biscuits, his blond hair draped around his plate, the normally blue eyes contently closed.

Buck reached for the coffee pot first. It was one of his little peculiarities. He could function very well without his morning coffee, but it wouldn´t be a good day for whoever had to spend it with him.

Normally it was best to leave him be until his first cup was empty. The only one who could disturb him before that, and would live to tell the tale, was Ike.

The two of them made the strangest couple of brothers one had ever seen.

Buck with the dark skin and black hair, he inherited from his Indian mother and Ike, pale white with no hair at all. They met in an orphanage. Two little boys avoided by the other kids. Buck, because of the savage people saw in him, and Ike because of the illness that robbed him of his hair and took his voice, leaving him mute.

Teaspoon watched, fascinated as Ike made a gesture, and Buck, without looking up, handed him the milk. Sometimes it seemed like Ike would use his sign language only to show the rest of the world he was talking. Buck understood him without it.

Ike contemplated Cody´s head for a while, then made some quick gestures.

"What is it Ike?" asked Emma, while she put a plate full of scrambled eggs on the table. Emma was a warmhearted woman, with open arms and understanding ears for the young riders she took care of. In a lot of ways she was more of mother than the housekeeper her paycheck dictated she be. A mother a lot of the riders were in dear need of since, true to the regulations of the company, they were all orphans.

Buck answered through a yawn:" He…. He said, if we don´t turn his head, Cody will suffocate on his breakfast."

Teaspoon turned his head to the boy next to him. A slight snoring erupted of the doughy depth. Very tactfully, Teaspoon brought his fork under the table.

There was a high pinched sound and Cody shot up, pieces of biscuits still sticking to his face.

"What is it boy? Charley Horse?" Teaspoon asked innocently.

Cody mumbled something unintelligent and clasped his own fork to shovel eggs on his plate.

They ate in an amicable silence for about ten minutes when Ike got up so quickly his chair fell over.

"Ike?" Cody sounded more annoyed then startled.

The youth in question held out his hand to stop him from talking and then made his way to open the door. With the surge of cold air something else seeped in their matutinal idyll – hoof beats, rapid and urgent.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – Damn important

"What is so damn important?" panted Teaspoon, storming into the office. Through the door over his shoulder you could see Cody dismounting involuntarily over the head of his stallion. He rolled a couple of times until he came to sit on the main street, shaking his head like a dog that wants to get water out of his fur.

Ike, his horse already tied neatly in front of the marshal's office, hurried over to help him up.

"First take a breath. You want some coffee?" asked the sheriff signing to the massive coffee pot. He sat in his stool, leaned back, his boots crossed on his desk. A picture of perfect contentment.

So naturally, Teaspoon lost it: "No I don´t want any damn coffee, Sam. I want to know why you sent an urgent rider out to us in the dark of night to make us scamper to town like the drunk little weasels we ain´t. And it better be something other than to offer us your lousy excuse for coffee!"

"It´s about me Mr. Spoon.", said a jovial voice from the behind Teaspoon.

He spun around, to come eye to eye with a tall figure, deeply sunken into the leather chair next to the coal oven.

"Spoon, I think Cody got a –", Buck stopped when the lean shadow rose from the chair to stroll over to Sam´s desk and leaned against it, his arms crossed, a bright smile on his lips.

"These are the riders?" asked the man, while Ike appeared behind Buck, leading a slightly dazed Cody.

"These are the riders," answered Teaspoon the question, stepping to the side and so maneuvering himself between his boys and the hungry glares from the guy. " What is going on here?" he demanded to know.

"Well, it´s perfectly simple. I need a package delivered," informed the tall figure.

"Bring it to the post office," was Teaspoons reaction:" Sam, don't you ever pull a stunt like this again," he added in the direction of the sheriff: "We are going boys."

"Before you go… would you mind having a look at this?" the tall figure had pulled an envelope from the inner pocket of his vest. He thumbed through the content and extracted a folded piece of paper. He held it out for Teaspoon to grab.

The already irritated man wrestled the sheet out of the guys hand and skimmed over the lines, his lips moving while he read. Suddenly his head shot up.

The glare Teaspoon send in the direction of the man sliced through him like a hot knife would through butter.

"This is a fake," growled the station manager, crushing the paper in his fist:" And I hope you know what kind of punishment is set for a fraud like this."

"I assure you it´s real," the smile of the guy widened:" Let me show you…" he clambered back to the cells and returned with a leather suitcase. He put the case on the table and opened it.

Buck whistled.

"Flawless, all of them," commented the guy on the staggering diamond necklace resting inside the case on a delicate atlas mount.

"Very nice. Both of them," judged Cody, still a little cross-eyed.

Spoon looked at him in concern before he turned his attention back on the diamond man.

"We don't do special deliveries. You can send it with the next ride, the day after tomorrow. But we won´t guarantee you anything. Not with this cargo," snapped Teaspoon.

"Mr. Spoon, I´m sure you read that letter not care full enough-"started the tall guy, but Teaspoon interrupted him: "I read it all right. But you won´t send my boys out there as moving targets, only so your stones are moved."

The tall guy signed:" Would you please let me explain the situation?"

"Not sure," answered Teaspoon.

"Not sure about what?" asked the tall guy puzzled.

"If I want to let you explain your situation. We don´t have a situation. All we have is a bad morning and a rider with a knock on the head," declared Teaspoon.

"Really, who?" asked Cody but Buck shushed him.

"What about, I provide the coffee, and we listen to Mr. Brillar´s requests. Perhaps we can sort this out real nicely," suggested Sam.

"Or I strap you to your stove and real nicely burn your –"

"Let´s just hear what this is all about," interjected Buck while Ike chuckled at Sam´s appalled face:" When he is finished, and we still don´t like it, we know what we walk away from, right?"

Teaspoon growled like a sheepdog in front of a very hungry wolf.

~o~

 _earlier – nowhere_

The train was stopped mid journey. Somebody had blown up the rails, leaving a twelve feet big hole in the stony ground.

One man and five horses waited at the side of this hole.

The man waived at the old engineer and the young stoker, pulling down the kerchief that had shielded the lower half of his face against the dust. He walked to the driver´s cab, with his face twisted in an honest, radiant smile.

"Sheriff from Greenvill send me. To bring you and the cargo back", he looked up to them, his eyes squinting against the sun:" Name is Redburn."

"This is Tommy. I´m Jeff", answered the engineer. He was an old man in the world of the trains - Nearly fifty. And he had seen all kind of strange stuff. Compared to some of the things that had crossed his way, a twelve feet hole where solid iron should have been, seemed astonishingly normal.

Jeff could adjust to nearly every new situation in seconds, so he didn´t miss a beat before asking:" Greenvill, did you say? How is the old Ben, is he still wearing that battered star?"

"Must have been before my time", answered Redburn:" The sheriff who sent me is called Jackson."

Jeff smiled back at the dusty figure:" Really? My bad. Must be getting old. All right then. I think the cargo you are looking for is in the second wagon", the old railway man climbed down the steep steps:" You stay here Tommy. Have a look at the engine."

Jeff trudged off followed by Redburn.

He stopped at the second wagon and opened it without knocking.

The instant the door rolled back he flew himself to the ground, shielding his head with both arms.

Nothing happened.

Then a bag fell into the dust next to Jeff´s ear.

The old railway man looked up into a younger face that watched him out of the open door.

"What are you waiting for, old man?" came Redburn´s voice from above him:" I´m not dying today."

Jeff let his forehead sink into the dirt. He was an old man in the world of the trains.

And he wouldn´t be getting any older.

Because this door opened and nothing happened.

Behind this door should have been six man. Six man who would shoot anybody that would try to open this door without the proper knock.

Those six men hadn't fired a single shot.

That meant something was keeping them form shooting.

Death would keep a man from shooting.

"Get up old man," Redburn helped Jeff to his feet.

Standing Jeff was able to look into the half light of the wagon.

Three men moved in it. Six men didn´t.

"Will you kill Tommy, too?" asked Jeff.

"No", answered Redburn.

Jeff let out a sign:" Could you be quick please."

"Sure thing", answered Redburn, and shot him.

The blast bellowed on the wide open plains around them.

The young stoker poked his head out of the cab:" What did you do?" he screamed.

Redburn scratched his head:" The necessary thing."

The youth jumped out of the cab, the shovel still in his hands:" What the hell are you doing?"

He scrambled to a halt in front of the wagon:" They are all dead", it was more a statement than question. He turned to face Redburn. " Why are they all dead?"

"Saw my face", answered Redburn.

"If you kept up the bandanna they wouldn´t have", spat the youth.

"Couldn´t breathe", answered Redburn. Behind him the three man slid from the wagon panels to the ground. All of them carrying bags with the post sign on it.

"That wasn´t part of the plan", growled the youth.

"Well… neither is this", Redburn turned a little, his gun still in his hand, raised his arm slightly and shoot very precisely and very steadily three times.

"NO." the scream from the youth was colored with horror as he watched the three man drop.

Redburn swung around and ended the life of a young stoker who´s named hadn´t been Tommy.

~o~

"So just to get this right," started Buck, he leaned against the wall, nursing a cup of the promised coffee:" We all get a package, and we all ride different routes. We all have to get to Ford Menkins where we have to hand it over to the commander," he took a big gulp of the bitter liquid.

Ike made some quick gestures.

"Oh right, and we won´t know who of us will carry the diamonds", he translated his brother´s words.

"Sounds like fun", Cody looked like he really meant it. His eyes sparkled like the diamonds in front of him.

"Sounds like live bullets and dead riders", commented Teaspoon:" I don´t like it. And I don´t want you boys to like it". He sat in the other chair in front of Sam´s table, his arms crossed over his belly, his hat shoved back.

The tall man let his eyes remain on the paperwork he had spread over said desk while he spoke:" Have I mentioned the 500 Dollar reward for bringing over the diamonds."

"And who exactly will pay that 500 Dollar?" asked Teaspoon.

"Mr. Brilla is an associate of the Northwestern Structure Association." Interjected Sam:" They are planning to widen the train routes. You know the problems we keep having. But they say we´re worth it, and they work with the military."

Brilla´s "Thank you Sheriff," brought Sams rambling to a stop:" I´m indeed an associate of the NSA, but our interest gets a little farer than only laying out railroads. We are hoping to establish a permanent peace around our rails. For this we are willing to pay generously."

"You can offer all the colored paper you like, you´re not gonna buy my boys", snarled Teaspoon.

The tall man signed and abandoned his paperwork:" Mr. Spoon, I think you get this wrong. Let me ally your concerns. Nobody will know that the riders are actually taking that merchandise. That's the reason I can´t bring it to the post office and that is the reason I had to make you come here. The safety of your riders is a priority in this endeavor. Be sure of that. If I would think somebody could be seriously harmed in this I wouldn´t let them ride." He paused to let his words linger then picked up in a slightly more urgent way:" But none the less, this collier must reach the fort. It is one of the pledges to ensure a peace contract with the Checoma tribe. So please try to understand my persistency, for there are lives at stake for sure."

Teaspoon bored his gaze into the eyes of the tall man:" Good words. But they don't belong with you. Seen men like you. Always with good words. And when people start to die, they are very far away. I´m not gonna stand here, with your purty words and a couple of coffins."

Brilla straightened up under Teaspoons answer:" I´m sorry you feel that way. But I have to remind you about the instructions you received."

Teaspoon rubbed his stubbly chin, he turned to Sam:" Yeah, about that. Hey, Sam, listen."

"To what?" the sheriff looked puzzled.

"To me ya idjt." Teaspoon pinned his eyes on Brilla´s face and said:" I hereby quit my job as stationmaster of the pony express."

"What?" Cody scrambled from the piece of wall he had leaned on, Ike gripped his arm before he could stumbled over his unsteady feet.

"Teaspoon?" Bucks voice was sickly leveled:" What is going on here?"

"I quit my boy. Have my witness. Have my word´s…" Teaspoon sounded nearly cheer full:"…and with quitting now, I will have to leave my position in… yes two weeks. Till then Mr. Brilla, you are free to find yourself some other scapegoats." He got up from his chair, knocked on the table with his knuckles and staggered out of the office.

Brilla who had nearly turned white with anger screamed after him:" You just killed about 200 farmers!" He also rose from his place and followed Teaspoon outside.

"Spoon?" Cody´s voice held a hint of haunting panic, he took off after the two man.

Sam just sat there shell shocked.

The loud voices of the two arguing man drifted in from the street, already making bystanders look up from their daily chores.

"You will have blood on your hands!" snapped Brilla.

"You have blood on your mind." Shoot Teaspoon back. " I´m done here."

Buck could see Teaspoon grapping Cody before the youth could tumble between the two men. Teaspoon measured him, even grasped his chin to look in his eyes, he didn't seemed to like what he saw.

He grabbed Cody´s upper arm and pulled him back to the office door, bellowing inside:" Ike, come here, take this idjt and bring him to the doc. Let him get looked over."

Ike immediately snapped out of the stupor the scene had left him in to rush to the door.

"Buck, move it, got a job for you too." Added Teaspoon while he handed over Cody.

The blond boy looked hurt in a way that had nothing to do with falling on his face:" You quit." It seemed more that something from a dream. Like if he said it out loud it would be shattered by veritableness. But the vison remained steady in the searing face of reality.

"Not on you." Teaspoon patted the boy on the cheek:" Don´t get your hopes up." The older man nodded at Ike who, very gentle steered Cody away, listening to his mumbling while howling him down the stairs.

Teaspoon watched the two with an unreadable expression, he than bodily shook himself, turning to Buck:" You collect our horses and go over to the doc. I´ll met with you there."

"Tea-"

"For the love of every god that can believe in me, just do it." Growled Teaspoon.

Buck knew that tone of voice. Had heard it before and knew better than to mess with it.

~o~

"Sam, you´re in here?", Lou shoved the office door open with her back, both her hands occupied with a large package: "The Sheriff from Greenvill sends some stuff, special for you." An empty room presented itself to her.

She signed and sat down the box on the table.

She had seen Teaspoon and the boys on the main street. They had been on their way out of town. She had shouted after them, but they had been too far away to hear her. So she went to Sam in the hope of simply delivering the package and catching up with the guys.

But no such luck. She called out for the sheriff again, but instead of Sam a tall man came out of the back office. He smiled at her, and Lou smiled back. Fully engrossed in meeting her first human fox.

Intelligent eyes moved over her face, dismantled her coat, dissected the dust on her pants and polled her boots:" The sheriff isn´t here at the moment." The fox said.

"Thanks." Answered Lou:" I´ll wait." She tried to look over his shoulder without letting him know. For all she knew Sam could lie in his own cell, tied up and gagged.

"Suit yourself." The fox said.

Lou pushed her glasses up. A nervous habit.

The fox sat down.

Lou kept standing.

"May I offer you a coffee?" asked the fox:" Not to appear impolite, but you look beat."

Lou shrugged:" A ride will do that to you."

"A ride?" asked the fox, suddenly with scorching interest.

"Not to appear impolite, but I´ve never seen you. Could you tell me where Sam-"

"My name is Brilla." Interrupted the fox.

Lou froze. She examined him carefully.

"Lou." She answered at last.

Brilla raised an eyebrow.

"Short for Lucas." Added Lou. She was a pony express rider; everybody knew that. A damn good one, too; a lot of people knew that. She was also a woman; a handful people knew that. And she wanted to keep it that way. Baggy cloth, a pair of glasses, short hair, and nobody gave you a second glance.

Brilla nodded, his smiled switched on again:" Are you with the pony express?"

"I am. That a problem?" she said it out of spite. This man got under her skin and she had to get angry before he could scare her.

"Not at all. In fact I tried to save your boss´ job."

"What´s wrong with Teaspoon?" she asked it before her brain had the time to catch up with her mouth.

The grin of the fox grew:" He choose to quit instead of delivering something." He turned to his papers with a sign. "It would have been a simple delivery. Still is. Sure a night´s worth of riding, but that ain´t too bad."

"And he quit because of that?"

"Well, to be completely honest with you, Lou. He said he didn´t like my face."

´That makes two of us, ` thought Lou.

The door opening behind her stopped the fox from rambling on.

Lou was more than happy to see Sam - well and angry - stepping through the door.

"Oh Lou, what´re you doing here?"

"Brought you a package, from Greenvill. Sheriff told me to bring it to you directly. Need a signature, too." She held out a paper to him.

He took it and skimmed through. Signing, he walked around the desk and leant over to put his name on the line.

"You got a lot more to do since the accident?" Sam asked.

"Since they blew up the tracks? Yeah, the tour has gotten a lot longer. Took me three fu- fantastic days." Grumbled Lou while Sam handed her the signed paper.

"Idiots." Added Lou. "One would think nobody would stop something that brings medicine."

"Don´t think they were after the medicine." Sam´s voice was low, while he looked at the contents of the package.

Lou shrugged:" I´ll be gone then."

"Sure."

She nearly made it out the door when the fox spoke again. His words froze her in place:" I just want to make sure you understand that you can save Mr. Spoon´s position with the company."

She turned around carefully. Not asking, only looking at him.

He smiled:" Mr. Spoon´s job will be provided when his riders deliver my package."

"Package?"

The smile got wider. "This package." he pointed to a box.

"Spoon always has reasons. If he told you no, then he knows why." She faced away again, taking another couple of steps to the door.

"Perhaps Mr. Spoon had a reason. But you all seem so fond of him. Don´t you want to keep him with you? I guess he would be worth a little ride." She didn´t stop this time, even when Sam interjected. "You got your answer. Just ´cause it ain´t the one you like, is no reason to talk to him like this."

The fox ignored him and called after Lou:" I´ll wait in the saloon. All night. If you want to keep him. You show up."

Sam´s angry words didn´t reach Lou. She was already hurrying to her horse.

She had to talk to the boys. If this was true, then she had a lot of riding to do.

And if the fox lied to her … well than she´d hunt herself a pretty fur.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"He won´t show up." Buck mumbled. He leaned against the bar, his shoulders hunched, his head down. His black hair pooling around his face, shielding him from the rest of the saloon.

Lou, standing next to him made an indistinctive noise and grabbed Cody by the arm before he could make his way to the stage. His eyes were glued to the long legs and shimmery skirts that whirled around. Even if it was impossible to say, which girl he was watching in particular. He had one beer, and due to his already cross-eyed view of the world, it would stay his only one. He had really done a number on his head today.

But instead of trying to shrug her off, he let himself be led back to the bar. Frugal like an old cow he propped his elbows on the wood. Ike eyed him with concern.

It was nearly impossible to shut Cody up. On some days they would get him to sing something only to stop him from rambling.

But today.

This was another Cody. One they hadn't seen before. Not in all the time they rote together. What bullets, and warriors, and desert and illness couldn´t do, one fox accomplished.

Ike tipped at Cody´s arm and made some quick gestures.

"Sure we´ll keep him." Cody said merrily, he thumped on Ike´s shoulder:" Riding without Spoon wouldn´t be riding. Wouldn´t be worth to get in the saddle."

And that was it.

Ike felt his insides clench. That was Cody´s truth. For him it really wouldn´t be worth the ride. And then there would be other things that wouldn´t be worth it anymore.

He exchanged a worried glance with Buck, but both stayed silent.

"What`s up with you boys? Your faces are as long as the one of your ponies!" exclaimed Cap. He was the bartender for as long as the boys could remember and in his adventurous life he had never once been employed by the military. But he was able to screw the cap of every bottle that crossed his way. This hobby - and the fact that this town had a strange tendency to name people after commodities – sometimes offered a man the possibility to see a Teaspoon drink a beer poured by a Cap.

"Just tired Cap." offered Buck.

"You got more to do lately?" asked Cap and started to polish glasses. He always polished glasses. Nobody knew where they went to, but nobody had ever gotten a polished one either. Cap must have collected them. Probably buried them. His very own sparkly treasure.

The thought made Buck smile while he answered. "Nope. But the rides got longer."

"Longer? Longer how? You found more land?"

"Have to include Greenvill. Railway doesn´t reach it anymore." Explained Lou. "Do you got another beer for me?"

"Sure thing." While Cap was busy tapping he kept on chattering. "You guys still ride alone?"

That made even Cody turn around. "Why wouldn't we?"

"With all them bank raids and the train they robbed…" Cap shrugged." Just thought it would be more secure. I mean, you do deliver valuables, don´t you?"

Cody stared at the slowly rising beer in Caps hands while he spoke "We always have. And there always have been bandits. Only ´cause they get nearer to the city´s now doesn't change our job."

"Well, all I say is, this Jackson is of the deepest dye. Have you heard how many people they killed on that train robbery?"

Cody shrugged. "Real killer I suppose?"

"Sure sounds like it. Has robbed banks from here to Nevada."

"And he is eight feet tall, his teeth are needle sharp and he´s able to shoot a fly in the right eye from thirty yards away." Interrupted Billy Caps rant. Billy was one of the saloons bar-girls. She was a pretty thing with curly black hair and a no nonsense attitude. Ike chuckled and earned himself a wink from her.

"I need three whiskeys and a beer." She announced and although grumbling Cap complied.

After Billy went off with the order he waited full three seconds before picking the conversation right back up. "You know they said he also killed his own men? Ice cold I tell you. Came out of nowhere. No one heard of him until he did that thing in Reno… you remember, the one with the horse and the straw hat. Clever. Clever I tell you. But cold as ice."

Ike made some quick gestures and Buck laughed.

"What did he say?" asked Cap eagerly looking in his direction.

"He said he could use a piece of Jackson´s soul for his beer."

Cody roared with laughter and even the corners of Lou´s mouth twitched.

Caps face instantly redded he pointed an angry finger at Ike. "You wait till he gets you on one of your rides! You know what, they never found the money from the train. He could be buying an army right while we speak!" he threw the bar towel on the counter. "Wait till you ride through one of this doggone cold nights and he gets you! And then see if I care!" still mumbling he made his way to the back part of the Saloon, where they kept the big beer barrels and all the bottles that shouldn´t fall victim to a friendly brawl.

Buck eyed his vested back until he vanished before turning to Ike to congratulate him with a couple of gestures, so fast his arms seemed to blur.

"Buck?" this time Billy had appeared behind the counter, mechanically wringing one of her gloves while she waited for Buck to turn to her.

"There is a man in the back room. He send me to tell you: He´d been here all along." Billy wrung the glove one last time before she added:" Gotta tell you, I don't like him. Funny eyes."

"Sounds like our man." sneered Lou. She grabbed Cody´s sleeve again. "Thanks Billy"

Billy looked like she wanted to say some more, but Ike ended the conversation with some wrinkled dollar bills and a smile, before he hurried after the others.

* * *

He had done a lot of stupid things in his, admittedly, not so long live.

But this one - This right here - took the cake.

He not only had a sealed bag full of trouble, he was alone in the middle of the night, running astray from his job, with nobody knowing where he was, and now, his horse was laming, too.

Ike had gotten off the animal a long time ago and was slowly making his way down in a valley, leading the stallion behind him. Down there were bushes – firewood and enough coverage that he would actually be able to start a fire. He paused and stared up to a nearly full moon while his breath formed little clouds in front of him. Cap had been right. It was doggone cold.

And even if it painted the landscape in a ghostly pale glow, was the moonlight not bright enough to let Ike properly see the hoof of the mere. He tried it with some matches, but only seared his glove, without being able to actually fix something. It looked like a stone had settled itself between the hoof and the horseshoe, but if he wanted to ever get back on that horse, he needed that fire.

He had been a good four hours out of town when the animal had started laming.

And it had taken him a lot of time to try and fix the problem so far.

If he was lucky, one of the other riders would come by here. One of the routes had been near him, but there was no telling, where their way would lead them. There were just too many variables. He still hoped that one of them would choose the way over the plains. You could cover a lot of ground there in a very short time. You didn´t need to struggle through the hills or the inevitable scrub. But you practically rode on a plate. Clearly visible for miles.

He slid a little on the frost covered hill and shuttered as he remembered their talk with the fox.

They all had been given sealed bags and the instruction to not getting killed, before they reached the fort.

They had started at different times, from different parts of the town. Only roughly knowing the routes of the others.

Ike had hated that idea. But there hadn´t been time to do much more. With the tribes at the brink of war and all this lives at stake.

The sounds of hooves echoing in the night stopped him cold in his tracks. He was still fairly high above the valley, more hanging in the stony hills than walking through them.

Later he would blame it on his mind being elsewhere, on the wind, howling around him, even on the horse distracting him.

He would use every excuse he could find, to explain why the man could suddenly appear over him, a rifle in his hands and a somber expression on his face.

Ike froze while the stranger lifted a finger on his lips, grey in the strange light of the night, unnecessarily telling him to keep quite.

The beating of hooves on the stony ground grew louder and the stranger looked up, staring over Ike´s head at something on the other side of the valley.

Ike followed the gaze and felt his blood freeze at the sight of the familiar shape.

Lou rode fast, and like always, didn´t seem to touch the ground at all. Even if the steady drumming in Ike´s ears told him otherwise. She flew over the silvery plain.

Thunder boomed over the plateau.

Ike saw Lou fall and whirled around just in time for the stranger to fire another shoot, nearly upright into the sky. With something that Buck would be proud to call a war cry Ike threw himself at the man.

But the crags were friable and the stranger had the high ground, so Ike´s attack ended more in a war crawl, when the stones beneath him started to slip.

"Will you shut up." growled the stranger and his voice was all wrong.

This voice belonged somewhere in a home. With siblings, and a mother, and a father. It was early to bed, and fishing in the summer and drinking for the first time on the towns fair.

But the voice just shot Lou. So Ike screamed again and propelled himself forwards.

The rifle swung down, stopping mere inches before his face:" For god´s sake shut up, or they-"

"Jackson, that you?" another voice yelled through the night, somewhere down from the bush. This voice was better. It was whiskey and dust and rotten teeth.

Jackson cursed. But he cursed wrong. It wasn´t angry. It was the curse of a rancher who saw his heard die. Who stood in the middle of his cattle and listened to them wailing for water, without a single thing he could do for them. It was pure agony.

Then suddenly, like a coin being flipped, Jackson righted himself and hollered back:" Got one. Has the bags. Has a horse, too."

The better voice whooped.

"Get up." Pressed Jackson through clenched teeth, his rifle steady:" And shut up. For your friend down there – shut the fuck up."

* * *

The town was still. Well except for the drunken cries from the saloon, but if you hadn't these, you couldn´t trust the town. Too quite towns were something to behold, for there were only a couple of things that could keep everybody home at night and that differed somewhere between religious fanaticism, natural disasters or a serial killer on the loose.

So Buck was very thankful for the raucous bawling and all them tornados sucking up serial killers before they could reach them.

He already sat in his saddle, on top of his horse, shivering in the cold. Cody had started half an hour ago. That was about the time they agreed on leaving between the riders.

He personally thought the idea was incredibly dumb. If somebody waited for them it would be so much better to all start at once. Whoever waited couldn´t follow all of them.

The thought settled heavy in his stomach.

If somebody waited none of them should have gone.

He stared in the night. The moon was so bright, you could read the sign on the sheriff office.

He blew in his hands to warm them.

Nobody waited for them. It was night. Whoever wanted that necklace would have a look at the stage coach. Nobody would even believe for a minute that somebody would ride through the night.

The horse danced impatiently. It was probably cold too.

The bag over Bucks shoulder rustled while he gripped the reins tighter.

The fox. Lou had an eye for something like that, names and characters and things that weren´t quite right.

Why wanted the fox them to ride at different times? It didn´t add up.

But the man had insisted.

So they had done it. For Spoon.

To be completely honest, he was doing it for himself too. And for Ike. And for Cody.

Spoon had been the first to see more in them than the scrawny orphans they had been all their lives.

The spirit in Ike.

The need for solid ground in Cody.

Something behind him cracked and he turned in the saddle, seeing nothing in the shady back alley.

Hearing Ghosts.

Buck always had the urge to laugh in the face of anybody who tried to ask him about the "Mystical-Indian-Things". They knew so little about his culture, the culture of his people, it was grotesque. They hunted them and used them, sure. But only very few had tried to understand their ways.

It was probably easier to kill somebody you thought of as a talking animal. Or take their children and stuff them into missionary schools.

What was left over from such deep-rooted communication was a vague curiosity about the "Mystical-Indian-Things". Good enough for Spirits on the plains and Ghosts in back alleys.

What was left for him was mostly anger.

And as strangely as it was, a brother. A brother the color of milk and with talking hands.

It was the memory of this brother riding into the night that made him jumpy, looking for things that weren´t there. Something was wrong, and he had let his brother go alone.

Sure Ike could take care of himself. He was neither dumb nor defenseless.

Still he didn´t like it. Didn´t like the whole thing. It had to happen to fast. Not on their conditions. In the night. Alone.

Only the fox knew.

There was another sound behind him, but this time he didn´t bother looking.

It was his turn.

He hitched the bag up and was yanked back with force.

His horse shied and somebody tried to pull the bag of his shoulder, there was a ripping sound and a voice asked:" By god boy, tell me you weren't that stupid."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lou dropped from her horse the second she heard the shoot. Pulling it down with her, getting themselves as flat as possible. There was no sense in fleeing. Not on this plains. You couldn´t outride a bullet. And there was nothing to hide behind.

Lying between two rocks, her face pressed in the ground, with one hand clutching the bridle of her horse she tried to calm her pounding heart. She must have hit her head while falling off the horse because it throbbed in sync with the pulse in her ears.

Another shot rang and then, very faint she heard a throaty scream. A scream like the ones Ike made when he was really, really angry. The same scream again, only louder. Still too far away.

Finally she looked up. She only saw silhouettes - clear-cuts of the moonlight hills. Something seemed to move there, but whoever it was didn´t come down. She lay there, clearly visible for miles, somebody had taken a shot at her, and now… that someone just went on with his night?

Her horse snickered annoyed.

"Damn right." she stroke its neck a couple of times. It still didn´t seemed pleased. Well though luck, she wasn´t pleased either.

* * *

The right voice from the bush belonged to a six foot tall, ragged looking man that made Ike grunt while he tied his arms.

Jackson stayed next to them his eyes averted, still watching the plains.

"All corded." announced Right-Voice and gave Ike a push that made him stumble. He growled at Right-voice.

"Look at that. Caught ourselves a tike." Right-voice slapped Ike´s hat off baring his bald head to the cold. Jackson stared at him for a couple of seconds and then cackled. It looked like he really tried to contain the laughter, but didn't succeed. It didn´t sounded happy either. It sounded like he just understood the cruelest joke live could play. It hurt to listen to it.

"What are you so happy about?" growled Right-Voice.

"Nothing really", managed Jackson:" He is the mute, that's all."

Ike looked at him puzzled by the revelation.

"The mute?" asked Right-Voice.

"The mute of the station." clarified Jackson. He shook his head and peered into the night for a couple of seconds. Staring at exactly the place Lou lay hidden in plain sight, just another grey shape between the rocks. "Been telling him to shut up. Isn´t that hilarious?"

Right-Voice didn´t answer. He looked at Jackson with a kind of worried anger:" If you lose it now, I´m –"

"I´m not gonna lose it." Jackson´s tone was back to the sharp, steely thing that had stopped Ike in his steps:" Get him on the horse."

Right-Voice didn´t looked convinced:" If you can´t-"

"Get him on the horse!" Jackson pressed. Ike was lifted and found himself thrown over Jackson´s Horse, between the animal´s neck and the saddle. His field of vison shrunken to a patch of fur and some ground beneath the mere.

"There is another horse." added Jackson.

"It´s laming." Right-Voice complained.

"So what?" snapped Jackson, one of his hands rested on Ike´s back. The contact made his skin crawl.

There was some shuffling, the horse fussing, a grunt. Then Right-Voice asked. "You think they got the others?"

"Don´t know." came the clipped answer from next to Ike.

"Shouldn´t there be more of them around here?" asked Right-Voice.

"There should. I´ll bring him to the camp, you´ll stay in the hills."

"With this lame thing?"

"Not my problem, you had a horse."

"It ran off while I was pi-"

"Should have tied it better."

Right-Voice snarled.

"Fine then, we´ll go back to camp. But if we miss one-" started Jackson.

"It´s the fault of the damn horse."

They started moving. Trying hard not to inhale the horses mane Ike hung there. It didn´t made sense for this Jackson to leave Lou like this. But in the light of being kidnapped Ike would let that slide.

* * *

Bucks horse shied, and in his own surprise he wasn´t able to hold himself on its back. While he fell the strangest vison enfolded in front of his eyes.

Teaspoon stood in the halve shadow of the alley. Moonlight colored the broidered brim of his hat silver and lay a cloak of light on his shoulders. The wind must have picked up. The snippets, that had filled Bucks bag, danced around the man in the dark, like the leaves had danced in the fall storms of his boyhood.

For a moment, a glimpse, bevor gravity pulled him down, Buck stared at his very own ghost.

Then the ground happened.

"Ho – No, no, now, come here, nothing happened."

It took Buck a second to realize that Spoon was going after the horse.

He rolled on his back and lifted his head enough to see Spoon gripping the reins of the spooked animal.

Talking calmly to the steed.

"You wanna kill me?" Buck made it to a sitting position, growling all the way up.

"I would say you are doing a mighty fine job on your own there." answered Spoon. He led the horse in a halve circle back to the sitting Buck.

Still holding the reins he squatted down till he was on the same eyelevel as his fosterling. Some teeth glowed in the twilight, revealing the grin of a very angry man. Buck swallowed hard:" Spoon."

"Are you hurt?"

"I´m – what?"

"Are you hurt? You fell of a horse."

Buck held a quick inventory and while beeing bruised on rather delicate parts, nothing seemed to be broken. "Don´t think so."

"You sure."

"Sure."

"Well then, what the hell were you thinking?"

"We-"

"Emma had fallen for the abstruse idea of checking in on Cody. She was worried about his head. Though he might have a concussion. Turned out, nothing to worry about. Not a single brain in the whole troop. What a relief."

"Spoon, we-"

"Are wackjobs. Now where are the others?"

Buck suddenly seemed very interested in the house wall to his left.

"Buck."

"It wasn´t fair to quit. Ok?"

"Where are they Buck." Spoon downright spat his name, then, like he just came to that conclusion, carried on with:" They are all riding for the spiv." He cursed. Rather creatively.

"We couldn´t let you…" Bucks gaze had wandered from the wall to Spoons knee.

A deep sigh made him finally look up.

Spoon had a hand pressed over his eyes:" Should have known you would pull a stunt like that."

"You can´t let you yourself being bullied out of your job and think we would do nothing about it."

"Oh boy." Spoon dropped the hand:" I´m not out of a job."

"You quit."

"I quit to the spiv."

"So you quit."

"I´m only able to officially quit to a member of the pony express, or at least an authorized representative of the Northwestern Structure Association and that spiv – oh, my impressible little dunderhead – was none of these things."

"But he had a letter, and he was from the Association. Sam said so."

"Sam also waits for rain to wash himself." The horse snickered approvingly while Spoon proceeded. "He lied. The letter is a fake. I bet my hat on it. I just needed some time to prove it. I told you boys not to worry."

"How do you know that he isn´t legit?"

"Well, for starters, you are sitting on money."

Bucks eyes snapped to the ground and he involuntary reached for a bundle of crinkled snippets under his thigh.

"Say isn´t that a nice number. Always liked them zeros." Spoon appreciatively clicked his tongue.

"That are 100 Dollars."

"Good my boy."

"What the hell?"

"Better my boy. Now get up. We have a sheriff to wake."

* * *

Cody had his back pressed flat against the boulder. He was gasping, and not entirely sure that all the stars he saw were actually celestial bodies. His suspicions were confirmed when some of them vanished with his blinking.

He nearly made it over the border when they got him. Got him in the proverbial sense of the word. Why did they always shot at his left arm? Sooner or later they would have shot off all his tassels. This jacked had been expensive. And how should he get the blood stains out?

Another bullet ricocheted of the boulder and made Cody duck even deeper.

He would ask Emma about the stains. She would know.

"Surrender and we won´t hurt you." The voice boomed through the rocky valley.

"Already killed my style!" hollered Cody back.

"What?" the voice seemed confused.

Cody hoisted his pack higher on the not bleeding shoulder und send a quick bullet in the direction of the voice. A curse followed.

"For my tassels." Bellowed Cody.

There were a couple of silent seconds, then the voice shouted:" Are you drunk?"

"Now that's just plain rude." Murmured Cody to himself. Normally at this time, he would talk to his horse, but this particular specimen of the genus Equus preferred to flee. Only because somebody shot it´s rider out of the saddle. Treacherous.

"This is your last chance. Get out here, hands above your head, gun on the ground, and we won´t hurt you."

Cody chuckled:" How should I get my hands above my head with a bullet in my shoulder? Stupid."

"Well then just lay the gun down." The man stood two steps from him, his face concealed in the shadow of the rocks, his rifle was pointed directly at Cody´s remaining tassels.

"Oh damn it." Griped Cody:" How many of you are there?"

"Enough. Put the weapon down."

"So you can shoot me?" gave Cody back.

"We don´t shoot unarmed men." Said the man staidly.

Cody chuckled again. "What is that? Some kind of outlaw´s code of honor?"

The man moved in Cody´s direction, and by doing so stepped out of the shadow. A silver star reflected the moonlight while the man said:" More like a Texas Ranger kind of code."


End file.
